Les quatre malfrats

Robert Redford plays an ex-convict named "Dortmunder" who, with the help of Kelp (George Segal), Merch (Ron Leibman) and Greenberg (Peter Sands), undertake a goofy and delightful heist of a valuable diamond. This diamond, named the Sahara Stone, was stolen by both the United States and Africa for many generations, and Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn) hires this unwieldy bunch to steal it back from the U.S. They steal it from a museum (using a huge car explosion), then from the prison, then from a police station before finally getting fired. However, all is not lost, for then Dortmunder actually gets the thing (with the help of a hypnotist and a gullible guard) from a maximum security bank. This is a great movie for those who like eating pizza in front of the TV!

The Hot Rock has a soft spot in my heart because the area of Brooklyn where a lot of the film was shot, I know very well, Eastern Parkway, The Botanical Gardens and most of all The Brooklyn Museum I know very well from years of living in the Borough of homes and churches. The Brooklyn Museum is where the elusive Hot Rock resides or at least where it first resides.

Robert Redford is released from prison and his brother-in-law George Segal is there to greet him. As Redford says to warden Graham Jarvis there ain't no chance in hell he's going straight. Straight into another caper that Segal has lined up for him with Ron Leibman and Paul Sand.

The amiable team is hired by African ambassador Moses Gunn from some fictional central African country to get a national treasure, a rather large diamond on display at the Brooklyn Museum. They do steal the diamond, but through an incredible combination of circumstances have to plan and execute four different break-ins before The Hot Rock is in their hands.

Redford and Segal display a good chemistry, as good as the fabled co-starring chemistry of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Why they were not heralded as a buddy combination is beyond me.

Stealing the film in whatever scenes they are in are shyster attorney Zero Mostel and his doofus of a son, Paul Sand. In the first caper at the museum, Sand gets caught and what he does with the diamond sets up the entire rest of the film.

As for Zero we find he's an attorney with absolutely no scruples whatsoever, the kind they make excellent lawyer jokes about. But he does give us some excellent laughs.

The Hot Rock is something on the order of an American domestic version of Topkapi. The laughs in it are good and strong, although some of the Seventies fashions make me wince. Despite that the film holds up well today. I'm surprised no one is thinking of remaking this one.

"The Hot Rock" is an unusual sort of caper film. In that, at times, the plot is a bit funny as well as ridiculous. Because of this, it stands out compared to the average crime film.

The story begins with Dortmunder (Robert Redford) getting out of prison. He is apparently a brilliant crook who has a habit of getting caught And, he's also learned nothing in the process as one of the first things he plans on doing is yet another robbery...this time with the help of his brother (George Segal) and a couple new guys (Rob Liebman and Paul Sand). What makes this robbery unusual at the beginning is that they are doing it for someone...a doctor who wants a diamond stolen because his country things it's theirs. But the robbery does NOT go as planned...and this sets up yet another crime...and another...and another. The problems keep snowballing...but Dortmunder is determined NOT to give up even when things seem hopeless.

The acting is very good in this one. Redford is fine....but the weird performances by Liebman, Sand and Zero Mostel really make this a quirky and enjoyable change of pace. Not a brilliant film but a very enjoyable one.

There is always a risk with these 'period' pieces that it will become dated very easily with changing tastes & expectations. Fortunately, caper movies are still getting made ('Entrapment'), Redford is still a sex-symbol, & crime still pays. So 'Hot Rock' is as eminently watchable today as it was way back then, provided of course you don't start wondering too much about the plot. Ride Quincy Jones' music (Gerry Mulligan plays the sax) & Redford's easy charm & you are safe home.

The performances all round are very muted, except the wonderful Zero Mostel's over-the-top crooked lawyer. At times you feel everybody is just too reluctant to get on with it, but I guess that is the kind of 'cool seventies' effect that director Yates was trying to get (& I feel, succeeded). Anyway Yates was riding high at this time with some great movies like Bullitt & Murphy's War & his confidence shows.

This film is taken from one of a series of books by Donald E. Westlake about John Dortmunder & his various cronies who try to pull off big capers but never quite succeed. Anyone who likes this movie should try picking up the novel it's based on.

If, as other posters have written, Robert Redford has prevented release of this movie on video then that's a shame since this is a very funny & enjoyable crime caper film with some good actors & good New York City locations. Recently, it has been on Cinemax (which I don't have) a couple times so maybe that is a prelude to a future video re-release.